JD the DJ reaches out

World Vision is partnering with national radio network K-LOVE -- which includes more than 400 contemporary Christian radio stations -- to help children around the world Survive to 5.

Today, Andrea Peer profiles JD Chandler, a DJ at K-LOVE who will host a radiothon on November 20 to help find sponsors for children in need.

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JD Chandler sits in a hut in rural Niger, where a healthy, happy baby rests in his father’s arms. Two months earlier, that baby was severely malnourished.

Grateful for the recovery, and honored by the visit, the father holds his son out to JD. In midair, seeing the white man with open arms, the baby screams in protest. “I have that effect on babies everywhere,” jokes JD.

But actually, not everywhere. Besides his two grown children and his two grandchildren, two other babies didn’t cry when JD held them.

They were so sick -- so severely malnourished -- that they couldn’t cry.

“There was no weight to them at all. They were so skinny and malnourished,” he remembers. “You hold them and wonder if this baby is going to be here in another week…and you don’t know. It all depends on how much help we can provide.”

JD Chandler is a DJ with K-LOVE, a network of more than 400 contemporary Christian radio stations. He loves to make people laugh. And he loves making a difference in people’s lives -- his listeners, and children around the world.

“We’re wired to reach out,” he says. “We are built with our eyes looking outward, not inward.”

He sees World Vision as a way of helping Americans connect to a world that many of us know nothing about.

As a believer, he feels that “caring for the poor is what we’re about” -- and World Vision is there to help with that mission.

“World Vision has been around a long time,” he says. “They know what they’re doing. They have a system where you can reach out through that organization and impact lives in other parts of the world that need help.”

Join with K-Love and World Vision to help children survive to 5 by sponsoring a child in need. Sponsorship reaches out to a child, his or her family, and entire community with access to sustainable, life-giving basics like nutritious food, clean water, medical care, education, and more. It's one of the best ways to fight poverty -- and change lives!